Harris: DePaul’s Young Guns Look To End The Streak

The DePaul Blue Demons have not won a Big East game in sixteen consecutive tries, but this new look, young team aims to change that around.

“People look at us and think they can just play around with us,” Freshman guard Brandon Young said today talking about the team’s youth. “They don’t think they need to take us seriously, but we are just going to come out every game and play hard and come out with some wins.”

When Young says “us” he means himself, freshman forward Cleveland Melvin, and freshman forward Moses Morgan. These three have become really close throughout this season so far, and it shows on the court.

Melvin and Young both start and lead the team in points per game with 13 and 12.5 respectively. Melvin leads all Big East freshman in points per game, and Young was awarded Big East Freshman of the Week honors in back to back weeks. Young credits their friendship for their success.

“We are best of friends,” Young said. “We are always around each other. Once you see me, you are going to see Cleve and Mosses with each other…We talk to each other about everything that’s off the court and on the court when we see each other. We let each other know what’s going on in our lives and stuff. We tell each other everything.”

This has especially helped Melvin since the beginning of Big East play. In three Big East games this year, Melvin has averaged 23.3 points per game, scoring 29 points against Georgetown on the road two games ago.

“Since the first game we played in Cincinnati, Cincinnati thought that we didn’t have a big man, so I decided to step up,” Melvin said. “I ran the floor, grabbed some rebounds, and just did my part on both ends of the court.”

With some guidance from some older players such as junior guard Jeremiah Kelly, and senior guard Jimmy Drew this young nucleus is getting stronger by the game.

“It’s huge,” coach Oliver Purnell said. “There’s only one way to get experience, and that’s to play. These guys are getting tremendous experience right off the bat because they are thrown in the fire right off the bat, both conference and non-conference.”

Tomorrow night the Blue Demons look to break their Big East losing streak against a 7-9 (1-3) Seton Hall team. Tip off is at 8 pm and can be heard on 670TheScore with Zach Zaidman and Laurence Holmes on the call.